hold open spring replacement
 

How do you remove the hold open to replace the hold open spring?

Lift up at the rear and push/pull toward the rear, while depressing the front.

Sounds strange but it is not hard to do.

Use caution in purchasing a replacement. I bought two off a gun parts dealer and one broke while putting it on. The second broke after just a couple of action tests. The steel was too brittle for the action. Fortunately, the dealer took them back and refunded my money. The spring needs to be of the right steel and tempered right for the motion.

Removing the hold open is one thing. Removing and replacing the flat spring is another. Once you have the hold open out you must push the old/weak/broken spring out right to left with a VERY small drift. I usually use a small finish nail I flattened the end on. Then take your new spring and line it up..see if it will start enough to hang on then either press it in with smooth faced pliers or set it on a steel block and gently tap tap..
If you can find an original you have confidence in it's going to be much better. Repro's I have never had much luck with.

Once you have installed the spring..getting it back into the pistol is a tad tricky..push the end of the flat spring into/onto the well ramp to start noticing that it must be depressed some to engage the hook into the round catch below while shoving forward. Just look at it closely before attempting insertion. It's pretty logical really. It helps to have the pistol stabilized so you can use both hands.

I think Tom Heller either has originals or useable replacements; the one I purchased from him has worked perfectly.

If you get a "black" replacement spring, for get it- it is brittle as mentioned above; and too thick too boot. An original spring is quite thin and should be "in the white" or light blue.

Even at that maybe 50% will fit without modification, good luck; and as 4 scale says- buy a spring from Tom- Lugerdoc.

Don, The thicker HO springs that you mentioned are for use only in the SARCO repro HOs that have a wider cut for the spring. After trying a couple of their repro HOs, I returned the rest since they are cut too low at the rear, to work dependably. At the moment, the only complete HO assys that I'm selling are NOS Swiss M29s, which also work well in most standard PO8s with minor fitting. TH